

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">

<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript" src="helpman_topicinit.js"></script>

<title>Using Classifiers [Enterprise Architect User Guide]</title>

<meta name="keywords" content="Enterprise Architect, Sparx Systems, UML, Use,Use Classifiers,Classifier,Classifier Use,Classifier Set">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />

<link type="text/css" href="default.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<style type="text/css">
  A, A:Visited
  {
    color: #00F;
  }

  A:Active, A:Hover
  {
    color: #F00;
  }

  OL
  {
    margin: 5px 0 5px 48px;
  }

  UL
  {
    margin-bottom: 3px;
    margin-top: 0;
  }

  #nsr
  {
    background-color: #D4DFFF;
  }

  #nsr A
  {
    text-decoration: none;
  }

  #mainbody
  {
    padding: 8px;
  }

  .p_BodyText
  {
    padding: 5px 0;
  }
</style>



<style type="text/css" media="screen">
  BODY
  {
    background-color: #FFFFFF;
  }

  #nsr
  {
    padding: 6px 6px 0 6px;
    border-bottom: none;
    vertical-align: top;
    z-index: 2;
    visibility: visible;
    left: 0;
    top: 0;
    position: absolute;
  }

  #mainbody
  {
    left: 0;
    top: 0;
    margin: 0;
    position: absolute;
    padding: 10px;
    overflow: auto;
    height: 100%;
    z-index: 1;
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-position: bottom right;
    background-attachment: fixed;
  }
</style>

<style type="text/css" media="print">
  #nsr
  {
    visibility: none;
  }

  #mainbody
  {
    overflow: visible;
  }
</style>
<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript" src="nonscroll.js"></script>

</head>
<body scroll="no">

<div id="page">



        <div id="content">
          <div id="content-inner">
          



  
          <div id="nsr">
            <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" width="100%">
              <tr valign="top">
                <td align="left">
  


                  <p class="p_Heading1"><span class="f_Heading1">Using Classifiers</span></p>



  
                </td>
                <td align="right">
                  <a href="introduction.htm" onmouseover="document.images.main.src='button_main_h.gif'" onmouseout="document.images.main.src='button_main.gif'">
                    <img name="main" src="button_main.gif" border=0 alt="Return to Introduction">
                  </a>&nbsp;
    
                  <a href="objectclassifiers.htm" onmouseover="document.images.prev.src='button_prev_h.gif'" onmouseout="document.images.prev.src='button_prev.gif'">
                    <img name=prev src="button_prev.gif" border=0 alt="Previous page" />
                  </a>&nbsp;
    
    
    
                  <a href="instanceclassifier.htm" onmouseover="document.images.next.src='button_next_h.gif'" onmouseout="document.images.next.src='button_next.gif'">
                    <img name=next src="button_next.gif" border=0 alt="Next page" />
                  </a>
    
    
                </td>
              </tr>
            </table>
          </div>
          <div id="mainbody">
  


                <p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">If you right-click on an Object in a diagram, the element context menu displays the </span><span class="f_MenuKeyField">Advanced | Instance Classifier</span><span class="f_BodyText"> menu option. Select this option to choose a single element (generally a Class) as the classifier or template for this Object.</span></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">The </span><span class="f_UIControl">Set Element Classifier</span><span class="f_BodyText"> dialog is shown below. Use this to <a href="instanceclassifier.htm">set the instance classifier</a>.</span></p>
<p class="p_TextIndentedL2"><img src="setelementclassifier.png" width="555" height="375" border="0" alt="SetElementClassifier"></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">The Object name is then displayed as </span><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;">Object: Classifier</span><span class="f_BodyText">; for example a Person object named Joe Smith is displayed as </span><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;">Joe Smith: Person</span><span class="f_BodyText">.</span></p>
<p class="p_SubHeadingL1"><span class="f_SubHeadingL1">Several Changes Occur if an Object has a Classifier</span></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">It is important to remember that an Object is only an instance of a classifier at runtime, so the appropriate attributes and operations are those of the classifier, not the Object. Therefore, in the context menu for the Object, if you select the </span><span class="f_MenuKeyField">Attributes </span><span class="f_BodyText">or</span><span class="f_MenuKeyField"> Operations</span><span class="f_BodyText"> menu options, the </span><span class="f_UIControl">Attributes</span><span class="f_BodyText"> or </span><span class="f_UIControl">Operations</span><span class="f_BodyText"> dialog displays for the classifier, not the Object.</span></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">If you set the classifier for an Object in a Sequence diagram, when you add a message the drop-down list of available messages derived from the target Object come from the classifier, not the Object selected. This enables you to associate Sequence diagram objects with Classes and use the defined behavior of the Class to model actual behavior at run time.</span></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">You can also select a message for a State Flow connector. The same rules apply as for Sequence diagram objects.</span></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">Note that in the </span><span class="f_UIControl">Message</span><span class="f_BodyText"> dialog you can also select to include messages defined in the target classifier's inheritance hierarchy.</span></p>




            </div>
          </div>
        </div>



</div>


</body>
</html>
